The present disclosure relates generally to environmental control systems, and more particularly, to improved indoor and outdoor units for environmental control systems.
Environmental control systems are utilized in residential, commercial, and industrial environments to control environmental properties, such as temperature and humidity, for occupants of the respective environments. The environmental control system may control the environmental properties through control of an airflow delivered to the environment. For example, a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system includes heat exchange units (e.g., indoor and outdoor units) that place the airflow in a heat exchange relationship with a working fluid (e.g., refrigerant) to heat and/or cool the airflow. Traditionally, heat exchange units of HVAC systems are rated based on an energy efficiency ratio (EER) that measures an efficiency of a respective heat exchange unit when operating at full capacity. Recent regulations have introduced an integrated energy efficiency ratio (IEER) that rates a respective heat exchange unit based on weighted efficiencies of the respective heat exchange unit at partial loads. Unfortunately, existing heat exchange units that have relatively high ratings based on EER may have low IEERs because of reduced performance at partial loads.